Wild Rose jewelry box: Sheepski Designs challenge inspiration

Inspired by the look of French porcelain jewelry boxes, I transformed a dollar store wooden jewelry box into a treasure using the Wild Roses digital stamp by Sheepski Designs, dies and foil from Spellbinders, embellishments from Tim Holtz, Vintaj patina ink, and Distress ink, stain, and paint.

This project is my inspiration piece for the Sheepski Designs blog challenge for August. The theme this month is Flower Power. Use flowers in your project. You can make a card or scrapbook layout or mixed media piece or anything else that strikes your fancy. You don't need to use a SheepSki Deigns image to enter but if you do you'll get an extra image if you're our winner or one of our top three! The winner is chosen at random; the top three are chosen by a member of the design team. So, come join us with your creations.

Sheepski Designs challenge blog: https://sheepski-designs-challenges.blogspot.ca/

We also have a Facebook challenge every month which is always Anything Goes but does require using a Sheepski Designs image: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1730005463906336/

Sheepski Designs can be found in the Etsy shop: https://SheepSkiDesigns.etsy.com

For 10% off on Wild Roses and other Sheepski Design digital stamps, use the promotion code: SKIRIJACKI10

Supplies

LinkDeli.com

These are not affiliate links just the products I use and where you can find them, too (if they're not retired).

Putting It Together

When I was pondering a project for August's blog inspiration, I looked at my workshop shelves at my stash. There it was, sitting there, waiting patiently for me to put it into a project. I had also just picked up a package which had several dies I bought on a warehouse clearance sale months prior. One of those die sets, along with the box, sparked a memory of the look of French porcelain jewel box. I decided to use that as my inspiration.

I got the wooden box at a local dollar store. The price tag was still on it when I started the project, $1.50 Canadian ($1.20 in US dollars at the current exchange rate).

I resized the Wild Roses in Photoshop and printed it on watercolour paper.

Usually when I do watercolouring, I tend to stay with one type of item until it's done and then move to the next, leaving the background for the last. This time, I roughed in the lightest of the colours on the flowers and leaves then decided to do the background as they dried. I use Distress ink with waterbrush. The background is Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon.

The leaves are Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, and Forest Moss.

The flowers are Spun Sugar, Festive Berries, and Aged Mahogany with Wild Honey and Ground Espresso for the centres (added after this picture).

To seal the image panel, I used Micro Glaze with the blender tool to seal the ink. The Micro Glaze makes the panel water impervious with a matte finish.

The palette for the image panel.

I trimmed the panel and dry fit it on the top of the box.

Using Aged Mahogany stain, I coloured the bottom of the box. I was waffling between this dark burgundy and a blue for the sides of he box.

I tried a couple different blues (Broken China stain and Mermaid Lagoon paint) on the top which would be covered by the image panel. I also tried the metal surface die cut over the blue. I discovered I would need the Precision Base Plate to die cut the decorative panels and have the intricate pieces fall out reliably, but I could get enough pieces out to see how it would look.

I tried the die cut over the Aged Mahogany on the bottom and decided the blue looked better. On the burgundy is regal but a bit 'heavy' for this project.

I also dry fit both of the strips on the side along with the Tim Holz corners to get a feel for how it would look. It was after my 'bed time' at this point so I had to leave it until the next evening and mull over the choices while at work the next day.

To make it easier to paint, I removed the latch...

.. and the hinge, setting aside the hardware and the screws.

I chose the Mermaid Lagoon paint and used the dauber top to add it to the outside of the box. Even though the top would be covered by the image panel, I also painted it.

To get into the inside edges and corners, I had to switch to using a brush.

The Tim Holtz corners were a lovely gun metal grey that didn't match to the project very well. So, I used Vintage Victorian Gold patina ink to paint the corner hardware. I also painted the latch and hinge to tone down their bright gold. I set them aside to fully dry.

I used Scor-tape on the image panel to adhere it to the box. The adhesive tape is thicker than the adhesive from a tape runner and adheres better to an uneven surface like the wood of the box.

Being mindful of the front and back of the lid, from the cut out of the hinge, I applied the image panel to the box.

I added adhesive sheet to the metal surface panels and die cut them with the Precision Base Plate. This made it easy to remove the intricate details and easier to apply to the box. I saved the bits from the die cuts to use on future projects as embellishments. Since the surface used is actually metal, these bits stand up well on their own.

I folded over one narrow edge on the thinner die cut and removed the release paper.

I centred the die cut strip on the front of the box lid..

... and used release paper to firmly squish it in place. I used release paper in case there were any stray bits of adhesive creeping under a die cut. If I had simply used my fingers it would also have been easier to accidentally snag one of the cut surfaces. I folded the excess of the strip under the lip of the lid and also firmly adhered it. For the corners, I snipped small sections to fold over each other and adhere in place.

For the bottom, I used the larger strip. I lined up the bottom edge with the bottom of the box and folded the top of the strip over the lip.

At this point I could see my ideas fully coming together. Prior to this point, I had to just see them in my mind's eye. I added two more strips of each to the box matching the pattern on the side (I had to trim the bottom panel a bit to do so) and meeting them in the back for the seam that's not entirely perfect to the pattern.

I reattached the box hardware.

With the box open like this you can see how close the bottom was to the size of the wide strip and how lovely the over lap worked out on both. I had debated a cloth lining but decided to leave it as is (easier, actually, for dusting the interior).

I left the 'nails' of the corners with the gun metal finish as a design detail. The corners and their 'nails' were designed for chip board boxes so the 'nails'  are actually brads. I used a wire cutter to clip off some of the brad tails and flattened the brads in to the corners. I then used small Glue Dots in each of the three sides to adhere them to the corners of the box.

The corners are mostly decorative, though they do cover the sharp edges of the snipped metal and protect the filigree from getting banged on the corners. The height of the brad heads on the bottom also elevates the bottom of the box just a little. The overlap of the metal on the lid hides the edge of the paper panel making it look more integrated.

Challenges

More Mixed Media: Pastel
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday: Bling
Paperbabe stamps: Flowers
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Anything Goes
Creative Craft Cottage: Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door: Anything Goes
Emerald Creek Dares: Anything Goes